Meikyou Shisui
Meikyou "Kyoumei" Shisui is a young bushi of Oda Genji. She is renowned within the organization for her talents at sound-based techniques her and ninja skills. Equally remarkable, is that she was able to develop such talents in spite of being naturally blind- a testament to her intelligence and ingenuity. Her observance of the tenets of Bushido, however, leaves much to be desired. She struggles daily with the precepts of Honor and Honesty, as these values directly contradict the necessities of Deceit and Deception for ninja. Desiring to leave behind her troubled past, she is dedicated to the order and is driven to grow and develop her way of the samurai, one day at a time. Appearance Kyoumei is astere and resolute, like a still pond or a stagnant lake. Her melancholic face rarely exhibits strong feellings, but when it does, the ripple of emotion betrays her inner self, and the exterior image of her calm shattered like a reflection in the still surface of a pond. Her luxurious black hair is carefully bound in a ponytail behind her, exposing her young face. Her sightless gray eyes seem heavy with experience, but also project a gentle warmth. Her pace is careful and silent, each step deliberate and concise as she remains alert to her surroundings. The grace and precision of her movements reveal a careful and private personality. Personality Kyoumei speaks professionally and directly to her friends and enemies alike, with concise sentences and a respectful manner. Thanks to her overabundant humility, she never insults or derides her foes, and instead executes her objectives with a detached resolution. To most, she is a person that is emotionless and empty. A more thorough investigation of her behavior shows evidence of a deeper, private life. She has an abiding love for cute things, and her home dwelling is littered with stuffed dolls, flowers, and frilly fabrics. She loves to go on long walks, and appreciates the ambiance of busy, populous areas and quiet natural trails. Ever the tangible glutton, Kyoumei has a deep and abiding love for good food and sweets. The texture, flavor and scent of food all enthralls her. Sadly, she has no talent for cooking, and her home is often filled with the lingering smell of burned meals. Kyoumei was raised to be a tool of assassination, and so employs strategies of misdirection and deception to overcome her foes. At the same time, the tenets of Bushido teach Honesty and Honor as central values. Kyoumei struggles with these contradicting principles every day, and she often questions whether she was meant to join Oda Genji. Nonetheless, she desires to be a part of Oda Genji and to emulate the honor and rectitude of her master and the other bushi. History Meikyou Shisui was born somewhere in the border regions between Sound and Rain. This area was rife with crime and in a constant state of war, and so Meikyou eventually became a war orphan/refugee after her family was killed or separated during military engagements. She was taken in by a nameless organization, known only as the league of assassins. This league specialized in the production of a disposable child soldiers- children taught the art of ninjutsu, but solely for the purpose of the assassination of a target. Upon completion of their appointed task- or in the case of failure- it was the expectation of these young ninja to take their own lives to conceal the operations of the league and the identities of the patrons that called the hit. Meikyou Shisui was raised and trained among other children by merciless shinobi masters. The humanity of the children was completely disregarded in pursuit of producing the perfect disposable ninja. Some of her close friends died as a consequence of the training, or trying to escape. Those that didn't, were eventually recruited for missions, never to return. Perhaps because of her blindness, she was not tasked with killing a target until the age of 12. "Kyoumei" as she came to be known among the league, was assigned the task of executing Masazane Konta. Her mastery of sound-based techniques and acting enabled her to join Oda Genji on the pretext of becoming a samurai trainee. After two months of living among the order and gaining Masazane's trust, she chose that time to strike. Kyoumei put forth a great effort, but she was handily defeated by the master samurai's superior battle experience and skill. As an act of mercy, Masazane offered her an alternative to suicide- joining Oda Genji and abandoning her ninja way. Her short time among the samurai taught her about friendship, brotherhood, and Bushido. For the first time in her life, Kyoumei had a future beyond the bleak existence of a ninja. Kyoumei agreed to his proposition, and she has been a member of Oda Genji every since. She has struggled the last year to come to terms with the samurai code of Bushido. Her frequent acts of dishonor compelled Masazane to place her under the mentorship of Kagato Takamagahara. In the months since, she has slowly begun to understand the principles of honor vicariously. Although Kagato is cold and merciless by nature, he deliberately holds back his sword in order to teach Kyoumei the necessities of mercy and justice. After being invited to participate in the Amegakure Chūnin exams, Kyoumei was appointed to a temporary team because of her expertise in shinobi arts. With her intelligence on ninja tactics, Kagato's skill with ninkenjutsu, and Asami's spiritual powers, Team Karasu is sure to excel in the exam. Relationships Masazane Konta Masazone the Past, one of two heads of the order Oda Genji. His stern, conservative nature belies his benevolent and charitable nature. His honesty and honor have inspired Kyoumei to embrace the way of the samurai and dedicate her life to Bushido. Kagato Takamagahara Kagato is a brash and reckless youth, who gets into alot of trouble in Oda Genji. He was assigned to be Meikyou's senpai in order to teach him to have responsibility with the lives of others and himself. His cold disregard sometimes puts him at odds with Meikyou's more relaxed nature, but they make good partners, compensating for eachothers' vulnerabilities and temperaments. Abilities Blindness Kyoumei is naturally blind and cannot perceive light or image in any way. Consequently, she cannot read ordinary lettering, nor can she perceive concepts such as color or brightness except in metaphorical terms. As a result of her disability, genjutsu that rely on a sense of vision simply fail to work on her. She can't accurately perceive an illusion, because she has never seen, and naturally would disbelieve the deception. Blindsense Kyoumei's senses have become acutely sensitive due to her natural blindness. Her ninja training further enhanced these nonvisual senses to the point that she can pinpoint her surroundings with startling accuracy. Her enhanced sense of smell enables her to track enemies and pinpoint their direction, and her hearing allows her to predict oncoming attacks and subtle clues about the strategies of her foes. She uses her superior hearing in conjunction with numerous sound-based ninjutsu to keep her enemies off guard and confused. Zatougan Zatougan (ざとうめ, lit. "Blind Eye") is a vision-based genjutsu of Kyoumei's invention. Ordinarily, genjutsu manipulate the senses, allowing the caster to bestow vivid hallucinations on a subject. In Kyoumei's case, the vast majority of genjutsu are not possible- without the ability to see, she cannot accurately depict color, or form, or image. This technique instead imparts blindness to those who mistakenly look into her eyes. After forming the rat seal, Kyoumei channels chakra through her blind eyes while looking in the direction of the intended targets. Those who lock gaze with her become entirely blinded as a filmy darkness coats their eyes. This effect is temporary, dissipating naturally after a few minutes. Onkyou Monomane Onkyou Monomane (おんきょうモノマネ, lit. "Sound Mimicry") is a sophisticated illusory ninjutsu technique, that enables the caster to perfectly mimic and project a sound. This is often used in conjunction with smokebombs or in darkness, where a victim might rely on hearing to detect and avoid threats. Onkyou Kaijo Onkyou Kaijo (おんきょうかいじょ, lit. '"Noise Cancellation"') is a technique derived from Onkyou Monomane. By projecting a sound that is inverse to the frequency of a noise, Kyoumei is able to cancel the noise entirely. This technique allows her to silence enemies and her own movements. This technique doesn't work on very powerful noises, such as explosions, but is more than able to cover up speech, the sounds of combat, or shouting. 'Hiding with Camouflage' Because Kyoumei lacks the ability to see, she is not able to effectively use cover or darkness to conceal herself visually. She is forced to rely on the Hiding with Camouflage technique to allow her to navigate the battlefield unseen. Resonating Echo Drill Practically identical to the jutsu used by Dosu in Konoha's chunin exams, Kyoumei's only major innovation, is that she employs the use of her sword, Onsa Ken, to perform it. A discovery by Kyoumei has taught her that she is able to use the sound pressure of this technique to snuff out fire; the increased air pressure due to sound waves raises the ignition point of the air manyfold, effectively making ignition impossible. Bukijutsu Kyoumei is a skilled swordsman, but also employs a variety of other weapons and tools in combat. Commonly, she uses smokebombs, exploding tags, kunai and tetsugen, but additionally supplements her strategies with traps. Silent Killing Kyoumei's mastery of silent killing is further augmented by her use of Onkyou Kaijo; she can become completely silent, eliminating any risk of detecting her via sound. Equipment Onsa Ken Onsa Ken (おんさけん, lit. "Tuning Fork Sword") is a double-bladed katana, made of a chakra-conductive material. This specially crafted chakra blade converts chakra into sound energy, allowing a standing wave of sonic pressure to build within its two parallel blades. This sound energy can be used to deliver devastating attacks on objects or people, or it can be projected into a field of sound for debilitating foes (see Resonating Echo Drill). A secondary function of this sword, is that it can capture the resonant frequency of an object or material by striking its surface. Once so captured, the amplitude of this frequency can be raised to dangerous levels, and upon striking the surface a second time, the wave is ejected from the Onsa Ken and into the object or material. Ordinarily, this causes objects to shatter along their internal fault lines, as they literally shake themselves to pieces. It has a much more gruesome effect on living tissue. Objects with a lattice structure (glass, ice, and crystal), are particularly susceptible to shattering due to resonating sound. Poisons Kyoumei invests in some basic knock-out drugs and poisons for the purposes of infiltration. Although she has sophisticated training in assassination, she is loathe to use more deadly poisons on nonessential targets. She may have been trained to be a contract killer, but she is no murderer. These drugs are usually rapid-onset inhaled gasses, but she also possesses a few tablets for ingestion in water or food. *'Acetylcholine' - This odorless gas causes confusion and lethargy as initial effects as the chemical enters the bloodstream. It specifically targets the nervous system, disabling a subject entirely in less than a minute of continuous exposure as the nervous system becomes unable to respond to mental stimulation. In other words, it causes full-body paralysis. *'Capsaicin' - The main ingredient of pepper spray, this pepper-based irritant is useful for disabling dojutsu and scent-disabling smoke bombs. Open exposure to the eyes and nostrils causes intense burning pain and involuntary blindness. Inhalation of this chemical can cause short, uneven breathing due to constriction of the air canal. Smokebombs & Exploding Tags Smokebombs are useful for creating distractions, blocking line of sight, and for concealing traps and sneak attacks. Kyoumei often includes poisons in her smoke bombs as an additional measure for disabling guards or groups of armed individuals. Kyoumei also invests in the purchase of exploding tags, which can be used for the laying of traps and for increasing the threat of projectile weapons. Traps Kyoumei primarily uses tripwires to lasso opponents or to trigger exploding tags or smokebombs. She also keeps a couple of bear traps to supplement her arsenal, for opponents who are too large or physically imposing to be immobilized by cables alone. Umbrella Kyoumei uses a ninja parasol for various purposes. Thanks to its construction from beaten metal sheets, it is somewhat resilient to fire and heat. It is useful for enabling Kyoumei to break line of sight between herself and a target, usually to draw something for a surprise attack. This particular parasol can eject a number of concealed kunai in a circle around it, and the handle doubles as a blowdart. Its form also assists Kyoumei's hearing; the dish shape allows her to more easily detect sounds in front of her. And, of course, it is useful for avoiding getting soaked in a downpour. Radio Communications Headset This multi-band radio transmitter-receiver is constructed to be worn on one ear. It enables hands-free communication between anyone on the same frequency. This military-grade coms gear has been treated to survive heavy abuse, even full submersion in water. Inclement Weather Gear These articles of clothing assist Kyoumei at surviving harsh cold-weather conditions; wool-lined, water-resistant clothes, leather gloves, thermal underwear and waterproof boots. She has learned that open exposure to Kagato's cold can cause the onset of hypothermia in a very short span of time, and so has come to be prepared for the eventuality. Image Gallery